I just realized how long this thread has been dormant, but I just have to weigh in. When you live where I live, you simply don't have the opportunity to discuss the technical and artistic merits of Johnny Fay.
For starters, das_hips is absolutely right - UTH, RA and FC are very, very straightforward in terms of drumming. There's no question about how different Johnny's playing in the studio was then compared to now. Arseface is right too - drummers evolve and get better just as other musicians do, and this is clearly reflected in Johnny's work.
To refer to Johnny as the "weakest link" in the band is to assume that there has to be a weakest link, as das_hips said. Logically, this of course makes sense. Logically, the only way a band could *not* have a weakest link is if there was some quantifiable method of determining each member's skill level and it turns out everyone is on equal ground.
*Musically,* if you will, though, there is not neccesarily a weakest link. When you asess music as an artform as opposed to a science, there doesn't have to be someone that stands out as "worse" than everyone else. Some bands may still have a "weak link", for sure. But not The Hip. Their music transcends its components of individual parts and becomes a seamless "wave" of sound in which everything fits as perfectly as is possible.
If you were to asess percussion in terms of a science, there is no question whatsoever that Johnny Fay has not come anywhere near demonstrating that he is the best drummer on the planet. There are drummers who have done and can do and continue to do things on the drumkit that Johnny hasn't even come close to demonstrating. But if we look at it as an artform, a mode of expression, Johnny's playing leaps out. In studio, his playing from DFN onward in particular jumps out, and in a performance setting, every song of every show is an expression.
See, the magic of Johnny is that on those earlier albums, he laid down some very straightforward, no-frills beats - only to improvise his ass off when playing those same songs live. To this day, the band plays NewO virtually every night, and every performance on Johnny's part is different. Truthfully, the same goes for a pretty decent chunk of DFN. Listen to every live version of Grace, Too you have access to - no two are identical. The studio version is as straightforward as it gets, and I think Johnny does that on purpose, so that he has "room" to do what he wants in concert. He is able to contribute to the growth of the song, just like everyone else in the band does. I don't know that the band neccesarily lays down the most basic, straightforward versions of their songs in studio, consciously plotting to change this or that live. I'd be shocked if they did, frankly. But the songs start off at a certain point, and they grow in concert. Bands whose songs don't grow in concert are bands whose concerts are boring. Rush is a prime example. Their studio work is in my opinion, virtually unparallelled. But their live renditions are nothing more than technically flawless readings of the studio versions. Musically, that's boring. Scientifically, i suppose, it's engaging. Lucky for Rush, a large portion of their fanbase are folks who are more scientifically minded. BTW, arseface - I don't know who told you Neil Peart plays or has played with a neckbrace, but they were dead wrong. Unless you have seen a photo of neil playing with a neckbrace on (that clearly isn't doctored), don't believe it because it is a load of shit.
Incredibly, as his studio playing has grown more vaired, Johnny has still managed to create pieces that he is able to mess with in a live setting. Are You Ready is a perfect example. There's an off-beat time signature to the song, and he plays it a very specific way in studio. but again, listen to it live. It's different. Johnny comes up with his fills on the fly, yet he still manages to keep perfect time. I think its a shame that this sort of thing seems to go largely unnoticed by even the most hardcore of Hip fans. Everyone's busy watching Gord D flail around like a madman and rant about who-knows-what, but meanwhile, Johnny's right behind him creating some mind-blowing work.
brian mc